Slightly sweet with a delightfully, nutty, oat taste. One recipe, two results. Enjoy it raw as a gooey hunk of cookie dough goodness, or cooked and cooled, as the perfect cookie crumble. Incredibly easy and super delicious, this Cookie Dough Crumble is sure to become a household favorite in no time!

We visited Blake’s Apple Orchard this weekend! Enjoy a few fun pictures from our adventures!

Serve it in chunks, balls or spoonfuls, for a true cookie dough experience. For the perfect crumble or pie crust topping, just pop it in the microwave for a few minutes, cool, freeze, and behold the goodness of this fantastic concoction. This is seriously one of our new favorite additions to our daily desserts!

Eat it plain, mix in the raw or cooked crumbles to your favorite ice cream, or add it to your yogurt to make the perfect parfait. When it comes to this Cookie Dough Crumble, the possibilities are endless!

In a medium bowl, combine oat flour, almond flour and salt and whisk together. Then add the peanut and almond butter, milk, honey, agave, and vanilla, and mix together until thick and smooth.

For Cookie Dough:

Shape raw dough into small balls, or roll into one large ball, flatten into a thick pancake, and wrap with plastic wrap, and place in freezer for at least two hours. Once firmed up, cut cookie dough into 1/2 inch chunks.

For Crumble:

Using a spatula, scoop raw dough into a microwave safe bowl, and microwave for 3 to 4 minutes until dough starts to puff up and look slightly cooked on top. Allow dough to cool, then break up slightly, and spoon into an airtight container and freeze for at least one hour or overnight (or up to one week). Serve over ice cream, fruit, or whatever needs a cookie crumble topping.

Rich, creamy, peanut butter and chocolatey goodness packed into this perfect frozen yogurt. Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Frozen Yogurt is loaded with protein, healthy fats, and antioxidants, and is incredibly good for you. Scoop up a huge bowl of this cool, refreshing and unbelievably healthy dessert, and savor the perfect ending to your summer day.

Happy Sunday! How was your week? Ours was, well, you guessed it, another busy one! Although, I suppose that’s to be expected with a two-month-old (Charlie turned turned two-months-old on the 30th!), a two-year-old, and a four-year-old. Actually, looking back on it, I guess this week was rather packed. Monday was fairly calm, and a fun little day around the house and in the yard. Tuesday, we had our friends over for a playdate in the morning. Charlie had his two-month check-up on Wednesday, and now weighs 12 pounds 12 ounces. (He’s doing great and is one healthy little guy. He has also been smiling a bunch lately!) Since the older boys were already home with a babysitter, I managed to sneak in a quick little grocery store trip on our way home, with only one kid! I mean, is that a treat or what?! 🙂 I guess it’s the little things! Thursday we met Andrew for lunch. (Weekly lunches with Andrew have become a tradition that we all really enjoy.) Friday morning we drove Andrew to the office, so that later that I could pick him up after work for our early date night out on that side of town.

We had a great dinner, a fun shopping trip, and were home by 9:15! The perfect little date. Saturday, I had a SOLO shopping trip in the morning, (thanks to Andrew for holding down the fort for two hours while I was gone). In the afternoon, we headed to the park for a little ice cream social. James had the BIGGEST ice cream sandwich, and was downright adorable eating it. William opted for the push up and said “this is a good choice!”. Lol 🙂 They even got to take a ride on the cute little train. Today, with the sun shinning, and after all of the fun from the week, we decided to have a relaxing, yet productive family day.

Here are a few pictures and a little movie from all of the fun at the ice cream social yesterday.

This recipe became one of my very very favorite desserts while I was pregnant with Charlie. I created this recipe months ago, practically in the dead of winter. However, when you’re pregnant, all bets are off as to which season is the ideal time to make frozen yogurt. Just because the snow was piled high outside, that didn’t stop me from creating a fun treat to fulfill a major chocolate peanut butter craving. The “mix-in” idea of this recipe reminds me of the summer before our wedding. There was a great little ice cream place, Ritter’s Frozen Custard, that was a little less than a mile from us. They had some seriously GOOD and dangerously delicious ice cream desserts. Our favorite item on the menu were their Glaciers, which were very similar to a Dairy Queen blizzard. They had a mountain of soft-serve frozen custard, swirled together with whatever candy toppings you choose. Our favorites were Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, followed by Snickers, Oreos, and Heath Bars. Sometimes just one, sometimes all. NEVER healthy 😉 But always amazing.

It might not be custard, but this creamy dessert won’t weight you down. Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Frozen Yogurt will certainly stand up to any Ritter’s Glacier. Sweetened mostly with dates, and a touch of agave and honey, it’s amazing how “not good for you” it tastes! Seriously, I know it looks a bit on the “weirdly healthy side”, especially for dessert, but once you give it a try, I bet you’ll be hooked like we are!

This recipe is pretty simple and easy to make. Just toss everything in the blender, let it chill for an hour, and then let it churn in the ice cream maker. A few easy steps and you’re on your way to enjoying the perfect summer dessert. I let my blender and ice cream maker do most of the work for me with this one!

I know that by now you’re probably quite familiar with me talking about how much I love my Vitamix. Yep, I still love it and use it almost daily. However, I’m finding that there are quite a few kitchen gadgets that I have that are simply amazing. I’m (overly) passionate about them and feel the need to share them with you! I’m even finding that it’s not necessarily the most expensive or high-end items that are always the best, either. I guess at some point I’ll have to do a post on “My Favorite Kitchen Gadgets”, but in the meantime, here’s one thing that I find myself using at least once a week, if not much more. My Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt, Ice Cream and Sorbet Maker has become one of my new favorite kitchen appliances. It’s fairly inexpensive and super easy to use. The only catch is, that it comes with a canister that has to be pre-frozen before you can add the ice cream or yogurt to it. HOWEVER, here’s my trick. I always leave it in my freezer. Every time I finish making ice cream, I quickly wash it out, dry it off, and stick it right back in my freezer. That way, I can whip up a fresh batch of frozen yogurt, sorbet or ice cream whenever my little heart desires. (And on hot summer days, that’s pretty often!)

Also, stay tuned THIS THURSDAY, when I launch my TBT (throw back Thursday, incase you’re not familiar), post! It will definitely be a post you won’t want to miss! A great summer recipe and a chance to revisit our trip to Rome, what’s not to love?! So be sure to check back 🙂

To make frozen yogurt base: Add dates, yogurt, milk, cocoa powder, peanut butter, agave, vanilla and salt to blender or Vitamix. Blend until mixture is smooth and creamy, about 1-2 minutes, scraping down sides of blender as needed. Pour yogurt base into bowl or container, cover and chill in refrigerator for one hour, or up to two days. (If short on time, mixture can be added directly into ice cream maker, but will not be as firm.)

To make the fudge chunks: In a small bowl, add peanut butter, cocoa powder, honey, water, vanilla and salt, and mix together with a metal spoon. Form fudge into a ball, and then flatten into a thin pancake, about 1/2 inch thick, using additional cocoa powder to coat hands and fudge as needed. (Fudge will be very sticky). Place fudge on a piece of plastic wrap dusted with cocoa powder, and wrap tightly. Place fudge in freezer for at least one hour to firm up. Once fudge has firmed up a bit, remove from freezer and plastic wrap. Place on cutting board and slice into chunks, about 1/8 or 1/4 inch in size, depending on preference. Store fudge chunks in bowl in freezer until ready to use.

When ready to churn the ice cream, carefully pour frozen yogurt base into ice cream maker, turn on and allow mixture to churn for about 20 minutes, or until yogurt looks soft, but not fully churned.

While yogurt is churning, gradually add the chilled fudge chunks to the frozen yogurt in the canister, and continue churning for an additional 5 minutes.

Yogurt can be served immediately (text will be very soft), or scoop yogurt from canister into an airtight container and place in the freezer for 20 minutes, or until yogurt reaches desired firmness. (If yogurt gets too firm, especially the next day, place on counter for 20 minutes to thaw before serving.)

Tender chicken, finely chopped lettuce, Asian cabbage and other veggies, tossed together and topped with crunchy peanuts and thick, creamy Thai peanut dressing. It’s the perfect dose of freshness that we’ve been needing after all of those winter meals. Dive into this Crunchy Thai Chicken Salad, and you can taste the freshness of summer in each bite.

Happy Memorial Day weekend! It has already been a very fun weekend around here! We’re trying to make the most out of our very last weekend as a family of FOUR! Lots of fun, family time, date nights, spoiling our kids, etc. Andrew and I had a great date night out on Friday! Yesterday we headed to the zoo for a little family fun, and after all of that walking around, Andrew treated me to a very relaxing and much needed pedicure. Today we had a great family fun day outside in the yard, playing and goofing around, and then after nap time, headed down to the pool for some swimming and more fun in the sun. Andrew even surprised me again today with two dozen gorgeous pink roses! What a great weekend so far!

With all of the blue skies and warm weather, I can’t wait to start enjoying some amazing summer meals. What could welcome the summer better than a fantastic new salad? I have been so excited to share this one!!!

A little side note: All of the recipes on my blog are my own, original creations, unless I tell you otherwise. That means that I basically spend a lot of my (few moments of) free time, brainstorming and playing around with recipe ideas and combinations. It also means that sometimes my great ideas just don’t work out, or need a few improvements or adjustments before they’re worth sharing. Sometimes however, I am happy to say that after scribbling and jotting down about 100 ideas for one recipe, there are times when my ideas are successful right off the bat! After seriously researching, and playing around with my ideas for the “perfect” Thai chicken salad, I am thrilled to say that this one is a clear WINNER!!!

Dive into this salad and you’ll feel like you’re dinning at a gourmet Thai restaurant. It’s everything that you have always wanted in a Thai chicken salad, but never thought you would ever dream of creating at home. This Crunchy Thai Chicken Salad is an explosion of textures and flavors that are sure to wow your taste buds, and your loved ones!

Place chicken in a gallon sized ziplock bag, and add to it: olive oil, honey, lime juice, garlic powder, onion powder, curry paste, and fish sauce. Close bag and shake to combine. Place bag on a clean plate, lined with a paper towel, and allow to marinate in fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight.

To assemble the salad, combine the romaine, cabbage, carrots, onions, red pepper, and cilantro in a large bowl and toss together. Set aside or cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

To prepare the dressing, add to a blender: peanut butter, garlic, honey, lime juice, vinegar, water, soy sauce, and fish sauce, and blend together until creamy and smooth.

After chicken has marinated, cook chicken in a large non-stick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium high-heat. Cook chicken until no longer pink in the middle, about 5-8 minutes. Move chicken to a clean plate, and once cool enough to handle, pull apart and shred chicken. Place shredded chicken in a clean bowl.

It’s amazing how quickly this pregnancy is flying by. I just hit the 30 week mark! To celebrate, Andrew and I did a little baby belly photo shoot yesterday. Here are a few pictures of baby bump #3 at 30 weeks:

Ok, getting back to one of my favorite new snacks. I created this recipe a few weeks ago, right when we were about to sit down for lunch. Andrew and the boys were already at the table and I was just about to join them. I looked down at the apples I was carrying in, and HELLOOO inspiration! I remember giving everyone the go-ahead to start eating without me, because “Mommy needed to create something”. Well, a few batches, four reliable taste testers, and lots of full tummies later, we had all fallen in love with this Creamy Peanut Butter Yogurt Dip!

The other day when the boys and I were shopping at Trader Joe’s, a woman was peeking at our cart and told me she was checking out which healthy snacks we were buying. I told her a few of the things the boys and I really liked. She said she was trying to find some tasty and nutritious things for her 18-year-old son to snack on. That’s when I remembered one of our new FAVORITE snacks! I told her about this great Creamy Peanut Butter Yogurt Dip that I had created. She was so excited and thanked us, and then ran and grabbed the ingredients. It was such a fun, and flattering opportunity to share one of my recipe creations.

This upgraded version of apples and peanut butter takes snacking to a whole new level. It’s perfect as a dip for snack time or dessert, or will even make a delicious peanut butter yogurt. It can easily be doubled, tripled, or quadrupled, and stored in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 5 days. Get ready to lick the bowl! (Or at least that’s James’ theory :)) Creamy Peanut Butter Yogurt Dip is as quick and easy as it is healthy and delicious! One bite, and you’ll be hooked!

Sweet, peanut buttery, oatmeal goodness, baked into a perfect little bar. Oatmeal Peanut Energy Bars are bursting with nutritious, “good for you ingredients”. What’s not to love about this delicious treat?

Welcome back! I hope you’ve all been having a great weekend! It is finally starting to feel just a touch like spring around here in Michigan. The snow is melting, the sun has been shining, and we’re even starting to see grass in our yard! (Seriously, the ground has been covered with snow for the better part of the last 4 months.)

This little taste of spring is starting to make me realize that baby boy number three is going to be here before we know it! We only have about 2 1/2 months left until he makes his appearance. Thankfully, I’m not totally in the nesting mode yet, but I can feel it slowly creeping in. Lately, I’ve been more in the “cook all the things!” mode, which I guess isn’t all bad. The days that have been too cold to go outside, the boys and I have had numerous cooking lessons. They are getting to be quite the pair of little sous chefs. Sometimes I’ll cook with both of them, sometimes I’ll try to whip something up alone during nap time, and sometimes I will let William skip his quiet time and we’ll cook together. That’s just what happened here.

William and I created this recipe a few weeks ago, before we left for our trip to San Diego. I wanted to come up with a snack that we could all enjoy, that would travel well, and that fell into the “healthy, good for you” category. So, to the kitchen we went. Thankfully, James was napping during our little test kitchen adventure, so William and I could get serious and focus. (William has become a wonderful helper! He is not only great at measuring and gathering ingredients, but most importantly, he’s an honest critic!) I remember him saying to me as we were testing the peanut butter mixture for our first batch, “It needs more sweetness”. We kept taste testing and adding to it, until William and I signed off on the final version. We added everything together and stirred it up. Then we added a few more oats and chopped peanuts until we agreed that the consistency looked (and tasted) just right. We popped them in the oven and waited. Once they were cool enough to handle, the boys and I DOVE in full force! Seriously, I think I ate four or five bars without even thinking, and the boys each devoured three! Thankfully, we managed to save a few for Andrew when he came home. His verdict? He was sold after his first bite, and thought they tasted a bit like a peanut butter brownie! When I told him that these bars were actually HEALTHY, he responded with, “We should make these ALL the time!”.

Trying to take the advice of my husband, I feel like I have been pretty much making these non-stop. I made a double batch for our San Diego trip, and since we’ve gotten back, I have made at least three different (double batches). I just recently made these a few days ago and we had the chance to share them with both sets of Grandparents. They loved them, too! What a fun little (healthy) treat to share with the ones you love.

So, there you have it. Devoured by kids AND adults, and packed with all the right healthy ingredients to give you and your family energy whenever you need that little pick-me-up. These Oatmeal Peanut Energy Bars are sure to be a hit!

In a large bowl, combine oats, peanuts, and baking powder and stir together.

Pour peanut butter mixture over oat mixture and stir together until oats are well coated.

In a 13 x 9" baking pan, lined with parchment paper (that extends slightly past the sides of the pan) add batter and spread evenly into pan with a rubber spatula. Smoothing and pressing down as you go.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until set. Remove pan from oven and let cool on stove for 15 minutes. Then gently lift bars out of pan using parchment paper and continue cooling on wire rack.

Do you remember the movie LOL starring Miley Cyrus? Well, honestly the only reason that I was excited to see it was because they filmed parts of it in my hometown and at my old high school! I wasn’t the biggest fan of the movie (it was horrible), but I did love seeing the old hallways and classrooms of my high school. It’s not everyday they film a movie in your hometown, or at least mine.

While they were here filming, the word around town was that Miley Cyrus visited our favorite Thai restaurant TWICE while she was here! If Miley likes it, it must be good! (lol) But honestly, Andrew and I have had a number of great meals there, and of course found a family favorite that we all seem to go back for. Our favorite there is the “Curry Peanut with Chicken”. It has chicken, baby corn, water chestnuts, and bamboo shoots in a peanut curry sauce. It’s pretty darn delicious.

It became such a hit around here that one day I decided to put my chef’s hat on and get creative. I mean, why not try and create your favorite restaurant meal at home? I have been working on perfecting this recipe for a while, and now I am finally happy with it!

I just made this again the other night and we devoured it. The boys even loved it too. The peanut butter, curry and coconut sauce combined with the chicken and variety of veggies really make this dish something special.

Slice chicken breasts very thin, into strips about 1/4" thick. Put in bowl and toss with salt and pepper, and let sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes.

Rinse, drain, and cut water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, and baby corn as mentioned above, and combine in a small bowl and set aside.

In a medium sauce pan, heat coconut milk, curry paste, peanut butter, sugar, and fish sauce over low heat until they come to a very small boil. Set aside and cool for a few minutes, then whisk in the cornstarch to thicken.

In a large non-stick frying pan, heat 1 teaspoon of the oil until hot, then add the onion and cook until softened but not browned, about 2 minutes, then stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Remove onion and garlic from pan, into a clean bowl, and set aside. Using the now empty pan, heat the remaining 2 teaspoons oil, and then add the chicken and stir-fry until cooked through.

Now add the water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, baby corn and onion and garlic to the chicken mixture. Stir together and warm for about 2 minutes. Then add the sauce and stir, and heat for a few more minutes until everything is hot. Serve over white or brown rice.

A “healthy” cookie, without flour or butter? Why, yes! Thanks for asking! Look no further, this is YOUR cookie. These are seriously good! And even a bit good for you, too.

When my mom started on the gluten-free diet recently, I knew I wanted to come up with some kind of cookie that she could still enjoy. After all, my mom and I would definitely agree that dessert is one of the major food groups 😉 So when my parents invited us to a picnic with some of their friends during the summer, I immediately got to work creating a fabulous cookie that she could still enjoy.

After testing and tweaking this recipe at least 5 times, I am confident to say that I have created a pretty darn perfect, healthier cookie. My mom loved them! (and since the picnic has requested at least a few batches of these over the last few months) A few of her other friends, and our neighbor who has also gone gluten-free, were raving about them as well. And don’t let me forget my parent’s sweet friend and neighbor who is allergic to butter, and hasn’t had a cookie in a long time. Guess what? She LOVED these too! 🙂

This is such a great recipe to make. Totally quick and easy to throw together, and requiring only a few ingredients. I bet you already have most of these in your kitchen, with the possible exception of the skippy peanut butter. If you don’t have it, make sure to add it to your grocery list, because it really does make the difference in how these turn out. I promise! (I have tried this recipe using regular natural peanut butter, and the batter turned out too sticky and grainy. And when baked, they were still good, but just lacking a little something.) I think the addition of the palm oil in the skippy natural peanut butter is what helps to make the batter silky smooth, and the cookies simply irresistible.

Adding the oats…. and beating the eggs.

I love that these cookies can be easily mixed by hand. No need to drag out the mixer this time. Just grab your whisk and a little elbow grease 🙂 And smell that peanut butter! YUM!!!

Okay, so when it all comes together, it will look like this. Oh my! I mean, doesn’t the batter just look like something you should take a spoon to? Look at that! Well, if you must try a little, go ahead. (I won’t tell :))

I prefer to use a cookie scoop so that my cookies are all the same size. If you don’t have one you can always use a teaspoon.

Stir together oats, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl and set aside.

Beat eggs in a large bowl by hand with a metal whisk, then add sugar and whisk again. Add peanut butter and vanilla and mix until smooth.

Add oat mixture to wet ingredients and stir together until combined, using a rubber spatula or large metal spoon, then stir in chocolate chips.

Working with about 2 teaspoons of batter at a time, (or using a 2 teaspoon cookie scoop), shape cookies into balls and place about 2 inches apart on baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 7-9 minutes, until set and slightly browned. Do not over bake.

Cool for 5 minutes on baking sheet and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.